Devotees Accept New Challenge Of Anuvrats In London

Jainism has been called a religion of restraints. Transgressions are not only defined according to whether they are committed consciously or not, with care or not, with intention to hurt or not; but precisely howconsciously, howcarelessly, and how hurtfully. Within each of these zones of violence, there are innumerable shades, qualifications, and sub-categories of human experience. To correct this perpetual infliction, the life of a Jain monk is obsessed with the myriad vows of vrata, restraint, in order to empower him towards radical withdrawal from the world. The layperson is equally concerned, though less obsessed, with anuvrata, lesser restraint. Lay Jains are freed from spiritually distracting anxiety and stress by the pursuit of higher non-material ambitions. At the same time, they are given a framework that enables them to balance their materialistic impulses and needs with the requirements of the spiritual path. Acceptance of the vratas is a process of learning to live with minimal attachments.

It is against this backdrop, that I am pleased to report that Jain Vishva Bharati London (JVBL) has been instrumental in achieving another milestone. For the last three years, JVBL has been holding weekly spiritual classes, which was initially known as the “Mombasa Group” since the majority of members had emigrated from the port city of Mombasa in Kenya. Whilst the numbers in the group never exceeded few scores, their dedication and commitment is praiseworthy. Lately, the group under the guidance of Samani Prasanna Pragyaji has been reading the chapter seven of HH Acharya Mahapargya’s book, ‘Sambodhi’ (Enlightened knowledge, faith and conduct). It was during the in-depth discussion of this chapter that the topic of anuvrats came up. Samani Prasanna Pragya explained the various angles of these vows and this inspired the group members to apply this theoretical treatise into practice. As a result, nine people from the group accepted these vows knowingly with full awareness for a period of one year from the end of last year in the presence of Samani Prasanna Pragya.

For ease of reference the twelve avuvrats are as follows (Courtesy - HereNow4U.de):